Counting near-infrared single-photons with 95% efficiency

Single-photon detectors operating at visible and near-infrared wavelengths with high detection efficiency and low noise are a requirement for many quantum-information applications. Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are capable of detecting visible and near-infrared light at the single-p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics express Vol. 16; no. 5; p. 3032
Main Authors Lita, Adriana E., Miller, Aaron J., Nam, Sae Woo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 03.03.2008
Subjects
Equipment Design
Equipment Failure Analysis
Photometry - instrumentation
Photometry - methods
Photons
Radiation Dosage
Radiometry - instrumentation
Radiometry - methods
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Spectrophotometry, Infrared - instrumentation
Spectrophotometry, Infrared - methods
Transducers
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Summary:Single-photon detectors operating at visible and near-infrared wavelengths with high detection efficiency and low noise are a requirement for many quantum-information applications. Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are capable of detecting visible and near-infrared light at the single-photon level and are capable of discriminating between one- and two-photon absorption events; however these capabilities place stringent design requirements on the TES heat capacity, thermometry, and optical detection efficiency. We describe the fabrication and evaluation of a fiber-coupled, photon-number-resolving TES detector optimized for absorption at 1550 and 1310 nm wavelengths. The measured system detection efficiency at 1556 nm is 95 % +/- 2 %, which to our knowledge is the highest system detection efficiency reported for a near-infrared single-photon detector.
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ISSN:1094-4087
1094-4087
DOI:10.1364/OE.16.003032